SORSOGON CITY, Aug. 1 (PNA) — A top-ranking official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has blamed Congress and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the administrative woes it is facing which seriously jeopardize the performance of its duties.
In a forum with journalists on Thursday in Quezon, which was attended by this reporter, Commissioner Christian Lim said Comelec faces two basic administrative problems: the lack of decent office at the municipal, city and provincial levels and the shortage of personnel.
Lim, who was one of the resource persons in the journalism seminar on Campaign Finance for 2016 Elections organized by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), said that under the Omnibus Election Code, local government units are mandated to provide the Comelec with an office space for its use.
He admitted that this is not an ideal set-up as it puts the integrity and neutrality of the Comelec in question but it is what the law says, and besides, the agency has no funds to construct, or even rent, its own offices at the local level.
The Comelec official said they have submitted a position paper to Sen. Allan Peter Cayetano, the chairman of the Senate committee on electoral suffrage, regarding this matter and just awaiting the action of the committee.
Lim also cited the problem of lack of personnel which he attributed to the continued inaction by the DBM to their request for plantilla positions both in local and national levels.
The election commissioner said Comelec is highly undermanned, especially at the lower level, which compels them to accept personnel hired by local government units.
He said this set-up puts the Comelec in a precarious situation as those hired by the LGU might do something to favor their bosses.
Lim said the present scenario has caused serious problems in some localities wherein local election officers openly sided with incumbent officials.
He added that they have been requesting Congress for additional funds for office rental and hiring of additional employees but the request has remained unacted upon even as he stressed that Comelec could not do anything but to beg.
The official conceded that Comelec could hardly be independent unless it is totally independent in its financial needs.(PNA)